Keeping the faith

The Hari Mandir, built by Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, has no idols, but prayer services are still conducted on Sunday evening

The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) on Law College Road is in its centenary year. It was founded in 1917, and named after Sir Dr Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925), a pioneering Indologist, on his 80th birthday by his admirers. Recently undergoing a campaign of renovation and restoration, the campus hosts several historic buildings, including the main building (1917) and the Nizam Guesthouse (1933). But this is not the only campus in the city connected with Dr RG Bhandarkar. Another site, in Budhwar Peth in Pune, was intimately connected with the life and death of Dr Bhandarkar. The temple of the Prarthana Samaj (commonly known as the Hari Mandir), is tucked inside a very narrow lane just north of Pasodya Vithoba (which is on NC Kelkar Road, between Faraskhana and Moti Chowk). Right next to Garade Talim, the premises contain the prayer hall, an ashram, and a stupa that contains the ashes of Dr Bhandarkar.

The Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867 in Mumbai after a visit by Keshab Chandra Sen of the Brahmo Samaj. A reform movement called the Paramahamsa Sabha was already active in Mumbai at the time, of which Bhandarkar was a member. He joined the Prarthana Samaj in 1869, along with reformers such as MG Ranade. The Poona Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1870, and a small temple was built in 1878 in Budhwar Peth. The current meeting hall for the Prarthana Samaj was built later in the same premises, in 1909. In 1921, on the site of the old mandir, the Bhandarkar Ashrama was built in remembrance of the services rendered by Dr RG Bhandarkar.

The main temple building is a simple large hall with a porch fronted by three arches. The façade has a semi-circular gable capped by a finial. Built in grey basalt, the interior of the building has only a gallery and a lectern, with balconies on three sides. Prayer services are still conducted on Sunday evenings. Unlike other temples, the Prarthana Samaj has no idols for worship. Behind the prayer hall is the Bhandarkar Ashrama, which used to house a small school till recently. The foundation stone for this building was laid by Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar on July 6 (Bhandarkar’s birthday), 1920. The building is built of dressed basalt and is a simple two-storied structure with a pitched roof. In front are five arches that form a verandah. Just north of the Bhandarkar Ashrama is a small stupa, a memorial to Dr RG Bhandarkar. His ashes rest there, and the marble plaque reads, “The Stupa of the Venerable Dr. Sir Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, K.C.I.E., President of the Poona Prarthana Samaj, Oriental Scholar of World Reknown, Leader of Indian Social & Religious Reform, Revered of His Countrymen, Born 6th July 1837, Departed Life 24th August 1925.”

Both the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and the Poona Prarthana Samaj are institutions that were intimately connected with Dr Bhandarkar, and survive as architectural indices of his legacy in the city of Pune.

Pushkar Sohoni teaches at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune. His fields of research include historic preservation, Islamic architecture and Indo- Persian cultural history.

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